The core of Pep's Barca side was built by Rijkaard, and their academy is well established. I think he might be a bit overrated as a manager though his Barca side was one of the greatest ever. I think he'd be a risky appointment for any big club at the moment.

The Arsenal vs Montpellier match is dire. There's not one player out of 22 that's had a decent first half. Best moment was when Mertesacker was momentarily like a BFG Messi. Momentarily being about 1.3 seconds, but it was entertaining while it lasted.

Except there was even more Barca youth prominent who knew the style of play. Piqué, Pedro, Busquets and Iniesta's growth being the most prominent. Don't think there's many players at all Pep would've changed no matter who he could've replaced with. Can't see him replicating such success again soon and that's not to discredit him. Villanova has come in and broken some of his records already. That Barca side is a machine.

Kinda stopped paying attention after that.
the team Rijkaard built was based around Puyol, Deco and Ronaldinho, and messi was just coming through.

Guardiola virtually gutted out the core, built the team on the academy players he was familiar with and coached, built around Puyol, Xavi (who was there but was hindered by king deco), iniesta, and messi. Improved them by making Busquets (much as I hate the knob) the key deep-lying midfielder, much to the world's dismay by selling the (still) world-class Y.Toure. Brought through players like pedro which initially brought questions till he proved them right.
then to top it off, turned messi, who was doing great as a RW into a CF (thus popularizing and bringing back the false-9 position) which has been the making of messi (at a time when the idea of a diminutive playmaker could play in the position that was commonly known for big target men).

then there is not just their passing style, but the ethos who coached into the team about gaining the ball back within 7 seconds of losing it in the oppositions half before returning to form, which a distinct coaching style of their off-the-ball pressing tactics.

basically, the idea that Pep simply watched a world-class team do their thing is madness. The idea that this team was built by Rijkaard is simply ridiculous.

Kinda stopped paying attention after that.
the team Rijkaard built was based around Puyol, Deco and Ronaldinho, and messi was just coming through.

Guardiola virtually gutted out the core, built the team on the academy players he was familiar with and coached, built around Puyol, Xavi (who was there but was hindered by king deco), iniesta, and messi. Improved them by making Busquets (much as I hate the knob) the key deep-lying midfielder, much to the world's dismay by selling the (still) world-class Y.Toure. Brought through players like pedro which initially brought questions till he proved them right.
then to top it off, turned messi, who was doing great as a RW into a CF (thus popularizing and bringing back the false-9 position) which has been the making of messi (at a time when the idea of a diminutive playmaker could play in the position that was commonly known for big target men).

then there is not just their passing style, but the ethos who coached into the team about gaining the ball back within 7 seconds of losing it in the oppositions half before returning to form, which a distinct coaching style of their off-the-ball pressing tactics.

basically, the idea that Pep simply watched a world-class team do their thing is madness. The idea that this team was built by Rijkaard is simply ridiculous.

Fair enough, calm down. I'm not trying to discredit Guardiola. My feeling is just that Barcelona was already an exceptionally well run club in terms of the academy and existing talent and structure when he took over. If he takes over at Man City he'll be expected to have them playing like Barcelona within 6 months, yet that kind of football can take a generation to nurture.